New York Times, July 25

“Up Starts” is a clever way of saying: We changed the first letter of several common phrases, shifting it up one letter in the alphabet. So an “Ultimatum from a spouse who wants nicer digs?” (98 Across) is MOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (‘sted of “Love me or leave me”).

Others: “Cause for Adam to refuse the apple?” (23 Across) is FAST OF EDEN (‘sted “East of Eden”); “Precamping preparation?” (28 Across) is TENT PACKING (‘sted “Sent packing”); “Christmas, for Christians?” (35 Across) is SEASON TO BELIEVE; “Bountiful harvest?” (51 Across) is DREAM OF THE CROP; “Independence Day barbecue serving?” (67 Across) is CORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY; “Unnecessary part of a jacket?” (86 Across) is HOOD FOR NOTHING; “Refusing to watch football on New Year’s Day?” (106 Across) is NIXING BOWLS; and “Nathan’s annual hot-dog contest, e.g.?” (119 Across) is EATING GAME.

The theme seemed a little too simple to me; I kept thinking both major words in the phrases would have “up starts.” But there were nine theme answers, which is pretty impressive. Not many other clues caught my eye, with the exception of 77 Down, “Does, say” — SHES, as in more than one female deer. Took me a while.

Funny Coincidence Dept.: “PC key” (104 Across) is ESC, which also happens to be the button pictured on the cover of the NYT Magazine (scroll down after clicking link).

Never Thought of That Dept.: I’ve heard the word “pratfall” a million times, usually in the same sentence as “Chevy Chase” or “Jerry Lewis.” Never realized the word could be separated into its components, namely PRAT (“Rear end,” 2 Down).

Definition of Grounding Dept.: Not sure what kind of upbringing anyone else had, but NO TV (“Alternative to grounding,” 82 Down) pretty much meant you were grounded in my house.

Questions or comments? I’m on Twitter @crosswordkathy.

New York Times, July 18

The key to today’s puzzle is punctuation – the critical period, as it were. The theme answers are simple two-word phrases that, when punctuated properly, can be read an entirely different way.

So the answer to “234, as of July 4, 2010?” (23 Across) looks like ACCEPTED USAGE, but is read ACCEPTED U.S. AGE (our country turned 234 years old this year). Others: “Workers in a global peace organization?” (32 Across) is not THE UNEMPLOYED but THE U.N. EMPLOYED; ”What gumshoes charge in the City of Bridges?” (47 Across) is not PITTSBURGH PIRATE but the PITTSBURGH P.I. RATE; “Symmetrical power conductor for appliances?” (62 Across) is not a BILATERAL ACCORD but a BILATERAL A.C. CORD; “Too much guitar work by a professor’s helper?” (83 Across) is not EXCESSIVE TARIFFS but EXCESSIVE T.A. RIFFS; “‘Pay in cash and your second surgery is half-price’?” (94 Across) is not a STRANGE ORDEAL but a STRANGE O.R. DEAL (is it ever!); and a “Typical termite in a California city?” (108 Across) is not a COMMON LABORER but a COMMON L.A. BORER.

I have to admit struggling with the STRANGE ORDEAL answer, even after I had it down on the page. Where did the damn periods go? Did I screw up a crossing letter? Then I wondered if there was a hospital named ST. RANGE … but that only used one period. “O.R.” just didn’t initally strike me as me as an abbreviation the way the others did.

Not much else to shout out about. The only would-be Philly reference was 77 Across — EAGLE — a member of our loved and loathed NFL team. In this case, it referred to members of the band that sang “Hotel California.” And from the other end of our state, I had no idea that PITTSBURGH is known as the City of Bridges (47 Across).

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, July 11

Where is that wascally wabbit?

This puzzle either harkens back to your childhood or to that Geico commercial featuring the “r”-challenged hunter of Bugs Bunny. The theme answers take common phrases and twist them by turning a key “r” sound into a “w” — just as Elmer Fudd would do. So 23 Across, “Part of a biblical warning against growing onions?” is SO SHALL YE WEEP (instead of REAP).

Other Fuddisms: “Some locker room tomfoolery?” is TOWEL WHACKS (30 Across); “Bio for a Looney Tunes coyote?” is THE LIFE OF WILE E. (40 Across; remember all those Acme boxes addressed to “Wile E. Coyote”?); “Pretty fat, actually?” is THIN AS A WHALE (68 Across); “React to a bitter mouthwash?” is GARGLE AND WINCE (80 Across); “Sloven in the coven?” is a FILTHY WITCH (94 Across); and “Advice to someone going to the Egg-Beaters’ Convention?” is TAKE A BIG WHISK (102 Across).

The only one I didn’t understand is NADER’S WADERS (56 Across, “Politico Ralph’s fishing gear?”). Logic told me the plain English phrase would be “Nader’s Raiders,” but it wasn’t anything I’d ever heard. Wikipedia says that’s what Nader’s young lawyer-assistants were called. Huh.

Another Childhood Reference Dept.: I thought I was the only one on the planet who knew that “Snoopy’s hip alter ego” is JOE COOL (16 Down), not the WWII Flying Ace. But I’m going to take issue with its crossing answer, JOB JAR (“Container holding slips of papers with tasks written on them,” 13 Across). What? What planet is that used on? Ever heard of a to-do list?

Coming Home Dept.: 57 Down (“‘Prove it!’”) made me smile: SHOW ME. The Show-Me State is Missouri, where my husband has spent the past year teaching journalism at the flagship state university campus in Columbia. He is coming home, for good, next weekend. Hooray!!!!!

Philly Shout-Out Dept: 64 Down (“So called ‘Giant Brain’ of 1946″) is ENIAC, the computer invented here at the University of Pennsylvania. (That’s Penn, not Penn State.)

I Think, Therefore I Err Dept.: I first entered SUM as the answer to “Cartesian conclusion” (49 Across), as in Rene Descartes famous phrase, “Cogito Ergo Sum” (“I think, therefore I am”). I was one-third right: the answer was I AM. Truth be told, I’m not that much of a Latin or philosophy geek, but I recently wrote a story on a stolen Descartes letter that gave me more of a background on the Frenchman than I ever had before.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.

New York Times, July 4

Happy Phourth from Philly!

I’ll start off by saying I’m a little surprised that Independence Day didn’t factor into the theme at all (not even a single clue, actually). If Flag Day merits a doozy of a puzzle, you’d think the Fourth would at least score a mention in the grid. Oh well. Maybe I should make that my goal for next year: Get an Independence Day-themed puzzle published. I’ll get right on that. After today’s phestivities.

The theme clues in today’s grid were italicized, a font I hope is replicated in the syndicated versions next week. The answers were all common two-word phrases in which the last two letters of the first word also were the first two letters of the second word _ but they were only written once. So “Technical trouble” is a COMPUTERROR (23 Across); “Helper in herding” is an ENGLISHEEPDOG (32 Across); “Collectible book” is a LIMITEDITION (42 Across);  and a “Line in London” is the PRIMERIDIAN (57 Across).

Others: “Like man an online password” is CASENSITIVE (66 Across); “It might have a theater and planetarium” is a SCIENCENTER (76 Across); “Singer who played Cyrano in ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’” is PLACIDOMINGO (87 Across); “Introvert or extrovert” is a PERSONALITYPE (100 Across); and a “Protector” is a GUARDIANGEL (111 Across).

Republicans Probably Aren’t Laughing Dept.: “Herd of elephants?” is GOP (111 Down).

Wha-wha-what? Dept.: “‘Just a ___!’ (‘Hold on!’)” is A MO (2 Down). Really? Just a sec, just a min(ute) … and now “just a mo”? Eek.

Nice Parallel Clues Dept.: “Not e’en once” (38 Across) and “Not even once, in Nuremberg” (67 Down). Answers are NE’ER and NIE, respectively.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy